Category Archives: Gun Art

I thought I’d follow-up my depressing last post with something utterly delightful: Thumbs & Ammo, a new blog featuring images of favorite action moments from film and television — with the guns photoshopped out and the thumbs left in. The result is a cheeky and upbeat re-imagination of pop culture action heroes. A few faves:

Yesterday’s post examined a piece of children’s furniture that appropriated the gun aesthetic. Today we’re flipping this idea to look at a collection of stunning concept guns that stole their look from Nike sneakers. Created by Australian graphic designer Phil Robson (aka Fil Fury), each of the Nike Air Max Assault Weapons takes the form of an existing firearm (Beretta, Uzi, etc) and remixes it with a running shoe. The result is a series of surreal, Nike-branded weapons that leaves me wondering what kind of world these objects might exist in.

A few ideas:

Dystopian future in which consumer brands become warring nation states that attract soldiers by providing trendy military swag.

Parellel universe in which Nike co-founder Phil Knight takes up marksmanship instead of running in college and builds off of his post-grad military service to create a wildly successful Japanese-inspired line of consumer firearms

An alternate reality in which technology and human compassion have made firearms obsolete-yet-highly-collectable decorative objects. Like all brands, Nike decides to get in on the action. Ah yes. Guns as the new Beenie Babies…

These are surprising objects, no? They subvert our expectation of what guns are supposed to look like. Actually, now that I think about it, they sort of remind me of the Neos pistol by Beretta. See what I mean:

Huh. Interestingly enough this gun’s name Neos, like Nike, was also taken from ancient Greek. Nike was the Goddess of Victory, an embodiment of triumph. Neos means “new.” The appropriation and remixing of Greek art and architecture and is a recurring theme in the history of design. There may be something in this.

Additional images of Nike Air Max Assault Weapons (and one actual Nike sneaker, if you can tell) below. For more information on Robson’s work, visit his website or HiConsumption.